Holiday cards

Okay…seriously…get your holiday cards out. You’re running out of time. Even if you have no stake in the holidays, this is a prime marketing opportunity to thank your clients for their business over the past year. If you want to avoid the holidays all together, consider sending out New Year’s cards. I did this last year. People aren’t expecting to hear from you in January and so it’s a great way to stand out from all the holiday mailings. In fact, many people called to thank me for the cards and to talk about their business plans for the coming year. If I didn’t have such an interesting campaign set up for this year, I’d be doing New Year’s cards again. (I’ll be talking about my holiday mailing campaign soon, but not till I’m sure all my clients have received theirs!)

This sound very scam-like, I hope you do more than just cash 10% (like marketing, …).. . The 90% will be a tax deductible expense, so you are only taxed on 10%. However you will be totally liable for everything that goes wrong with the sales (like import duties, VAT, sales tax, guarantees, …)

Holiday cards

As the holidays approach, it’s a good idea to start thinking about how you’ll tie holiday cards into your marketing. My friend Michele shares this experience:

"In November I began thinking about Christmas, a particular holiday I celebrate. It’s not tough to think of it early on considering most retailers put out their holiday wares immediately following Halloween! As I walked past a Christmas card aisle, I contemplated skipping the chore. That is, except for my clients. I believe the holiday season is the perfect time for consultants to market themselves while sending well wishes to their clients. That being said, I had become increasingly uneasy about singling out Christmas considering so many people don’t celebrate it. Even “Happy Holidays” didn’t seem appropriate enough.

In an effort to not offend, I decided on some fairly generic cards. They simply had an illustration of skaters and the words, “Cool Season, Warm Heart”. I wrote a personal message to each of my clients, wishing them health and prosperity for the New Year. This approach was so well received that clients thanked me for my thoughtfulness. I’ll be sure to send out New Year’s cards next season!"

Great idea, Michele. With the birth of my baby and all the work I had last year, I actually send out "Happy 2008" cards in January. It worked well, because they landed on client’s desks when people were in a work mindset. I actually got a couple of calls from clients who wanted me to send in proposals. So $15 in cards and postage went a long way.

This sound very scam-like, I hope you do more than just cash 10% (like marketing, …).. . The 90% will be a tax deductible expense, so you are only taxed on 10%. However you will be totally liable for everything that goes wrong with the sales (like import duties, VAT, sales tax, guarantees, …)